Contents

Biography

Muti was born in Naples,
Italy, where his father was a doctor and an amateur singer; his
mother was a professional singer. Muti studied piano in Naples at
the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale. He
was subsequently awarded a diploma in Composition and Conducting by
the Conservatory "Giuseppe Verdi", Milan, where he studied with the composer Bruno
Bettinelli and the conductor Antonino Votto. He has also studied
composition with Nino
Rota, whom he considers a mentor. He was unanimously awarded
first place by the jury of the "Guido Cantelli" competition for
conductors in Milan in 1967. From 1968 to 1980, Muti served as
principal director and music director of the Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino.

Since 1971, he has been a frequent conductor of operas and
concerts at the Salzburg Festival, where he is
particularly known for his Mozart opera performances. From 1972,
Muti regularly conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. In 1974, he was appointed
the orchestra's principal conductor to succeed Otto
Klemperer.[2]

In 1987, Muti was appointed principal conductor of the Scala
Philharmonic Orchestra, with which in 1988 he received the Viotti
d'Oro and with which he went on tour in Italy and in Europe. In
1991, he announced his resignation from the Philadelphia Orchestra
at the end of the 1991-1992 season.

Apart from La Scala,
Muti has conducted operatic performances with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, as well as productions in Munich, at the Vienna State Opera (starting with
Aida in 1973, followed by La forza del destino in
1974, Rigoletto in 1983, Così fan tutte in 1994,
Don Giovanni in 1999, Le nozze di Figaro in
2001), in London, and at the Ravenna Festival.

Muti is a regular guest conductor at the Vienna Staatsoper where
he continues to conduct Mozart operas such as Le nozze di
Figaro and Così fan tutte. He is to return to this
opera house in 2008 with Così fan tutte.

A special relationship connects Muti with the Salzburg
Festival, where the conductor debuted in 1971 with Donizetti's
Don
Pasquale. In the following years Muti has been constantly
present at the festival, conducting both concerts with the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra and opera productions, such as Così fan
tutte in 1983 and Die Zauberflöte in 2005 and 2006.
Muti also owns a residence close to Salzburg.

From 2007 on, Muti is the principal conductor at Salzburg's
Pentecost Festival. He conducts opera productions and
concerts with his Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra.

In the USA, from 1980 to 1992, Muti was music director of the
Philadelphia Orchestra, which he led on numerous international
tours. In 1979, he was appointed its music director and, in 1992,
conductor laureate. Muti stated that his approach was to remain
faithful to the intent of the composer. This meant a change from
applying the lush "Philadelphia Sound," created by his predecessors
Eugene Ormandy
and Leopold
Stokowski, to all repertoire; however, many of his recordings
with that orchestra largely seem to do away with its hallmark
sound, even in the works of such composers as Tchaikovsky, Brahms,
and other high romantics. His sonic changes to the orchestra remain
controversial. Some felt he turned it into a generic-sounding
institution with a lean sound much favored by modern recording
engineers. Others believe Muti uncovered the true intention of the
works, which had been covered in a silky sheen by Muti's
predecessor. Since his departure from Philadelphia, he has made
very few guest conducting appearances with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, most recently in 2005.[4]

Muti has been a regular and popular guest conductor with the New
York Philharmonic. The orchestra's musicians have been reported
as being interested in Muti as their next music director, both
towards the end of the tenures of Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, but Muti had stated that he
had no wish to take on the position with the orchestra.[5][6] On May
5, 2008, Muti was named the next music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(CSO), effective with the 2010-2011 season, with an initial
contract of 5 years. Muti is scheduled to conduct a minimum of 10
weeks of CSO subscription concerts each season, in addition to
domestic and international tours. He made his CSO debut at the Ravinia Festival in 1973.[7] In
August 2009, Muti was named the next music director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma,
effective December 2010.[8] On 21
June 2010, Ljubljana will celebrate Carlos Kleiber's 80th Birthday with VPO
and Muti.

Riccardo Muti is married to Cristina Mazzavillani, who is the
founder and director of the Ravenna Festival. They have three
children, two sons and a daughter.

Advertisements

La Scala
controversy

In 2003, there were reports of artistic and programming
conflicts at La Scala between musical director and principal
conductor Muti and general manager Carlo Fontana.[9] Muti
did not attend the press conference that announced the new 2003
season. The appointment in 2003 of Mauro Meli as La Scala's
artistic director was intended to calm the conflict between Fontana
and Muti.[10]

On 24 February 2005, the La Scala governors dismissed Fontana as
general manager and named Meli as his successor.[11] The
musicians sided with Fontana against Muti at this point in the
dispute, and on 13 March, Muti stated that he would refuse to
conduct the La Scala orchestra from that point on.[12] On
March 16, 2005, the orchestra and staff of La Scala voted
overwhelmingly against Muti in a motion of no-confidence.[13] Muti
was forced to cancel a concert prior to the vote, and some other
productions were disrupted at the theater because of continuing
rifts with Fontana's supporters. On April 2, he resigned from La
Scala, citing "hostility" from staff members.[14][15]